Crude oil falls as USA stimulus talks trough
- by Johnnie Parks
- in Money
- — Jul 31, 2020
Inventories of crude oil in the US dropped by 6.8 million barrels last week to 531 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.
Prices were anchored on Thursday by demand concerns with a rise in COVID-19 infections raising the prospect for lockdowns to be reimposed.
Oil prices sank on Thursday following poor U.S. economic figures and after U.S. President Donald Trump roiled markets with a suggestion that the nation should delay its November presidential election.
More news: Jack Grealish in demand as Arsenal register interest in Aston Villa midfielderBrent crude was up 31 cents, or 0.7%, at $43.25 a barrel by 0831 GMT.
That leaves Brent on track for a fourth month of gains, while US crude is heading for a third consecutive month of increases, as the contracts have recovered from the depths reached in April when much of the world was in lockdown.
"After a bad day for big oil with awful earnings, we're starting to see the impact in barrels", said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures in Chicago.
More news: Fifth minister tests positive for COVID-19 in coronavirus-plagued Brazil - International"The recent resurgence of the coronavirus is an ominous sign that the upside is limited in the immediate future", Tamas Varga of oil brokerage PVM said.
The pandemic is keeping alive concerns about falling fuel demand causing an oversupplied market as record numbers of coronavirus infections are reported globally, including in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of oil.
In coronavirus news, several USA states in the South and West reported their biggest one-day increase in coronavirus deaths Tuesday, fueling a bitter debate over the reopening of schools in the coming weeks.
More news: United Kingdom welcomes European Union sanctions against China, Russia, N.KoreaIn factuality, the foundering in crude oil futures' prices on Tuesday was nearly entirely goaded by a rattling battle in the Capitol Hill over a new pandemic stimulus proposal, while a new aid package unravelled by the US Republicans on Monday has been whacked out in the US Congress less than a week before at least 32 million Americans would lose an additional $600 per week in pandemic unemployment benefits. Saudi Arabia is expected to cut its official prices to Asian customers for the first time in four months, according to a Bloomberg survey, amid faltering demand. The US Federal Reserve pledged to continue to help prop up the economy, providing some support to oil.
